Corporate Plan 2020–2023 Making history. Building Britain’s future. We are building the railway Our mission is to build a new high speed railway to better connect people across Britain. As a high-performing, innovative organisation, we will deliver value for money by applying the best in worldwide design and construction techniques. We will achieve new standards in infrastructure delivery, resilient operations and passenger experience. Ultimately, rail users will enjoy improved journeys across the current network as a result of the capacity released by HS2, while everyone will benefit from a low-carbon alternative to long-distance travel that better connects the country. Contents Chair’s foreword 12 Chief Executive Officer’s introduction 16 Review of 2019: making history 20 Highlights of the year 28 Notice to Proceed 36 2020–2021 KPIs 38 Project milestones for the next three years 42 Phase One: building the railway 44 Phase 2a: planning the railway 72 Phase 2b: developing the legislation 80 Building Britain’s future: leaving a positive legacy 84 Prime Minister with HS2 apprentices at Birmingham Curzon Street site, February 2020. Cover: Old Oak Common progress, December 2018. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 1 We will create new dedicated high speed paths for long-distance services HS2 will add vital capacity to the existing rail network, more than doubling the seats available to passengers between London Euston, Manchester and Leeds, and creating new dedicated high speed paths for long-distance services. This will create the space needed for more local, commuter and freight services. HS2 trains will carry over 300,000 people per day. By 2040, up to 18 high speed trains will leave London Euston every hour (on average, one HS2 train every 3 minutes 20 seconds) to destinations including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle. 2 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 Rush-hour travellers at Manchester Piccadilly. Integrating HS2 Phase 2b with Northern Powerhouse Rail will deliver much-needed capacity. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 3 Curzon Street station design engagement event at Birmingham New Street station, January 2020. 4 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 We will reduce journey times and expand opportunities With fast, frequent and reliable connections between eight out of Britain’s 10 largest cities and their regions, HS2 services will be accessible to nearly half the UK population, opening up new employment and leisure opportunities for millions of people. Local economic plans based on HS2 show the potential for around 500,000 jobs to be created, including from the improved connections that high speed services will provide across Britain. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 5 We will be a key contributor to a zero-carbon Britain HS2 will play a vital role in delivering the Government’s ambitious goal of Britain becoming net-zero carbon by 2050. The whole-life carbon footprint of Phase One (construction and operation) will be less than one month’s road transport greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. When the full network is operating, HS2 and the released capacity on other rail lines will reduce car travel by 1.2 million miles every day. 6 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 HS2 Curzon Street station design, by WSP and Grimshaw Architects, January 2020. HS2 will be the low-carbon alternative for long-distance travel, reducing the need for car and plane journeys. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 7 We will boost the North and the Midlands, levelling up Britain Poor transport links have contributed to large geographic disparities in the UK’s productivity and economic performance. HS2 will serve more than 25 stations from Scotland to the South East, cutting many journey times by half. Birmingham and the West Midlands will fall within an hour’s commute of Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, London, York, Preston and Wigan. By bringing Britain closer together, there will be more investment in the Midlands and the North. 8 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 Quayside and bridges, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. HS2 will help to realise economic potential in the North. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 9 We will be a part of leading Britain’s recovery In the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, HS2 is a shovel-ready project that will rapidly provide essential jobs and supply chain opportunities. Over 2,000 companies have already won work on HS2, with 10,000 jobs already supported. A total of 98% of HS2 contracts are going to UK-based businesses, 70% of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). At peak construction, 30,000 people, including 2,000 apprentices, will be designing and building HS2, 70% outside London. 10 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 Apprentices at HS2’s Birmingham Curzon Street station site, February 2020. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 11 Building HS2 is a truly national endeavour.” Allan Cook Chair Allan Cook meets leaders from across the East Midlands to discuss the benefits of HS2, 2019. 12 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 Chair’s foreword In 2019, as HS2 Ltd and our partners prepared for construction, few would have predicted the challenge the whole As we embark on country has faced over the last months. this new chapter, The COVID-19 pandemic is testing us all in many ways – physically, mentally, financially – and it is we rededicate testing the way we approach our task at HS2 Ltd. Working with our contractors, we have been able ourselves to the to progress safely and securely, with the health and wellbeing of all staff and local communities our top task in hand. priority. It has meant working differently, but we are proving ourselves up to the task. We are committed This new challenge has come after a year in to boosting the skills which HS2 Ltd saw the consolidation of a decade of hard work, determination and skill, with the of British industry, Government giving its backing to proceed with the HS2 Programme and enabling the issue of Notice to raising the bar for Proceed with construction of the railway between London and the West Midlands. major infrastructure One of my major tasks as Chairman in the first half of the year was to undertake a full stocktake of the projects and training Project. I worked to three principles in compiling the report: transparency, honesty and the overriding a new generation of desire to make sure that we could provide value to skilled workers.” the UK taxpayer in a timely manner. On completion of the work, I remain convinced that HS2 is the Allan Cook right strategic answer for the whole of the UK. Chair I also concluded that, while the benefits of HS2 have been understated, the budget and target schedule for the Programme also proved unrealistic. While this has been a source of frustration, it is vital that we are transparent about the Programme and what it entails. HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 13 Chair’s foreword continued Following my Stocktake and the Oakervee Review, the Prime Minster concluded that HS2 should go ahead – but with a number of important recommendations, alongside those of the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee. It is vital we learn the lessons from these reviews as we move to the next phase of the Programme – construction of Phase One. The Major Projects Review Group, Cabinet Office and Treasury have all assured HS2 Ltd’s capability. This Corporate Plan sets out the immediate work ahead and the milestones we commit ourselves to meet in order to deliver a truly transformational railway system that will benefit the whole of the UK. From its inception, HS2 has always been more than a railway and, as our economy gradually rebuilds from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever that we realise the immediate and future benefits of high speed rail. HS2 will underpin the construction and engineering sectors for the next 20 years – sectors that support nearly 10% of UK jobs and around 7% of GDP. At peak construction, HS2 will directly support more than 30,000 jobs, with many thousands Allan Cook shadows a HS2 Helpdesk session in more supported in the supply chain. Already our the Community Hub workforce is over 10,000 strong and around 98% of the thousands of businesses involved in delivering the railway are UK-based, with two-thirds of them small and medium sized enterprises. They come from every region of the UK. Building HS2 is a truly national endeavour. 14 HS2 Corporate Plan 2020–23 The benefits of HS2 will also be national. The rail As we embark on this new chapter, we rededicate capacity released on the existing network will ourselves to the task in hand. We are committed to provide more trains, more seats and better boosting the skills of British industry, raising the bar connections between regions and towns far from for major infrastructure projects and training a new the HS2 line of route. This will encourage people generation of skilled workers. We are committed out of their cars and on to trains, supporting the to being a good neighbour to the communities UK challenge for net-zero emissions by 2050. affected by our programme, to listen and be The increase in mobility will put more economic sensitive to their concerns. We are committed to and social opportunities within reach of millions meeting the world-class construction standards of people. we have set, minimising disruption, protecting the countryside and leaving behind a green corridor for HS2 is not a standalone project. Northern wildlife to thrive and local communities to enjoy. Powerhouse Rail is planning to use the HS2 The Victorians first realised the dream of rail travel infrastructure for approximately half of its proposed and shared a vision of connecting people and route.